3 possible Chicago White Sox roles for Leury Garcia in 2022

Right Field

The Chicago White Sox could get a lot out of Leury Garcia in right field.

The White Sox have still yet to address right field which means Garcia is now in the mix to be the opening day starter.

Garica has more range than the typical right fielder. He started the bulk of the White Sox games in center field in 2019. La Russa is also fond of him. Last season, he started 117 games. Assuming the White Sox doesn’t bring in another free agent, then Garica would be competing against Andrew Vaughn, Gavin Sheets, and Adam Engel.

Vaughn is likely to spend the bulk of his time at DH. Sheets is a sub-par defender. Engel likely has the inside track position but he struggled to stay healthy last season. He has shown he can hit for a slightly higher average as well. Garcia’s career average is .259 while Engels is .225

Garcia also helped his cause with some clutch hitting down the stretch of last season. In August, he hit a walk-off home run against the Boston Red Sox. Then in Game 3 of the ALDS, he launched a clutch go-ahead home run that propelled the White Sox to their only postseason win.

Seeing that Garcia is comfortable playing the outfield and has a solid track record for the White Sox, it is not crazy to think that he will be seeing the bulk of games in right field if Rick Hahn opts not to seek out an upgrade.